Door strike depicting Napirisha, 14th century BCE, Susa Acropolis, on display at the Louvre

Napirisha (Linear Elamite: Napirriša)[1] was an Elamite deity from the region of Anshan, and was the main deity of the kingdom from at least the late 3rd millennium BCE. In Elamite, his name means "Great (-ša) God (napir)"; in cuneiform texts, the word is written using the ideogram GAL (meaning "great" in Sumerian), which was without a correct interpretation for some time.

Napirisha is depicted as an anthropomorphic deity, often with a snake figure that symbolizes primordial waters.[2] He is thus identified with the Mesopotamian god Enki/Ea, who rules the primordial waters of the abyss. In Elam, he was close to the character of Humban, the great god of the Awan region, which he replaced as a titular deity of Elamite kings around 2000 BCE.

In Anshan, Napirisha did not have a main temple. Napirisha was in all likelihood worshiped in large, open stone sanctuaries, such as Kurangun; he is probably the deity depicted on bas-reliefs with his consort (Kiririsha?) and other deities, providing life water. A large temple dedicated to Napirisha was built in Dur-Untash (Choga-Zambil), in Susa, shared with the local titular god Inshushinak. The template was next to a large ziggurat.[3]

References

  1. ^ Desset, François. "Nine Linear Elamite Texts Inscribed on Silver "Gunagi" Vessels (X, Y, Z, F', H', I', J', K' and L'): New Data on Linear Elamite Writing and the History of the Sukkalmaḫ Dynasty". Iran. 56 (2). ISSN 0578-6967.
  2. ^ The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-87099-651-1.
  3. ^ Carlson, Evan, "Inscribed and Uninscribed Spaces in Al Untash Napirisha: Interaction and Segregation in a Late Second-Millennium De Novo Capital", Iran, vol. 52, pp. 29–52, 2014

Further reading

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